User blog:Galeforce's Wrath/A Tale of Darkness: Part 1
Pain. My face and arms burned like they were being cooked, my back ached like I hadn’t moved in days. Cold creeped its way through my bones, despite the intense heat. Needless to say, it was uncomfortable as hell. I tried to move, but my mind stopped me, this feeling in the back of my head telling me that doing anything was a bad choice. The waves licked at my sides like an animal… … wait... … waves? I turned my head to the side. All that I could see for miles was the hazy blue-green of the ocean water, no land in sight. I carefully turned my head to the other side, left, and was quite disappointed when I was met with the same sight. “Great.” I muttered to myself. I had no idea how long I had been out here, or even how I managed to stay above the waves, but I did know that it was a while. My mouth was dry, and I felt slightly light headed, now that I was assessing myself. “You’re awake!” Called someone. I looked around, confused. Who said that? “You ARE awake, right?” Catching the voice better this time, it sounded like a girl. I looked around again. “Where are you?” I asked. “Can you not see me?” Asked the girl in response. “Unless we’re not in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight, in which case I’d be hallucinating, no, I can’t see you.” I said somewhat sarcastically. “O-oh, sorry.” The air around me shimmered, before calming again, revealing an.. Angel? She had flowing blue hair, purple eyes, angelic wings, light-blue skin, and wore a flowing blue dress. Upon her head was a tiara embedded with red jewels, rubies maybe, and wielded a staff with a purple flame emanating from the top. “Well I’ll be damned, an angel?” I asked, dumbfounded. “Yes.. er, no. I mean-- sorta. I- er- I mean-” The girl stuttered on. “Fine, don’t get your wings caught up in a tangle. Just tell me your name and we can move on from there.” I interrupted with. “O-Oh, yeah! My name’s Tiara.” “Kyren. Nice to meet you.” I said, trying to at least follow the basic formalities. “You don’t look so good.” Tiara stated. “I probably feel worse than I look.” I groaned, the pain finally finding its way back. Tiara hovered over to my side. “I’ve been following you for the past two days, I don’t know how long you’ve been out here from before then, though.” She laments. “Ehm.. in that case, when was the last big storm?” I asked, know that storms weren’t common near Breeze Beach. “Two weeks? I think..” Tiara answered, unsure. “T-two weeks?!” I exclaimed. Tiara looked at me. “I haven’t been able to heal you fully, but most of your major wounds either sealed up while you were out there or someone else treated you. I’ve healed all your fractured bones but everything broken… still is.” She explained. “Thanks… I guess.” I said to Tiara, trying to sound grateful. “Are you a summoner..?” She asked suddenly. “Huh? What makes you ask that?” I said defensively. “Are you..?” She asked, again. “I… have a disability preventing me from getting units.” I spilled out. She floated there, confused. “That can happen?” “I’m living proof.” I stated, at this point ignoring my EVERYTHING hurting like I’d been hit by a giant monster. Oh wait, I WAS. “Can you try something to help ease up the pain? And maybe some fresh water? If it’s not to much to ask.” I said. “Right.” She acknowledged. She raised her staff and began casting a spell, which begun to surround me with a veil of soft light and warmth. The pain ebbed out of me and out to wherever pain goes. Where that was, I didn't know nor care. I sighed happily, knowing that although I was in bad shape, at least I didn’t feel it. The noon sun rapidly descended from its throne in the middle of the sky, allowing the celestial queen known as the moon to ascend. Since when was I poetic about anything? ---- Night descended across Morgan, marking the 16th day since Kyren had disappeared. As horrible a thought for me to have, I had to give up on him. If he wasn’t found by me, Karl, Seria, or any of the other Hall summoners, where would he be other than at the bottom of the sea? The direct search for him had ended a week ago, but I actively kept looking while Seria and Karl told me they'd keep an eye out for him. They thought he was dead as well. I let out a sigh and fell to my knees. I drew my blade and plunged it into the earth in front of me. I leaned forward, letting my forehead touch the cross guard of the blade. “I’m sorry, Kyren. I have to move on. If you're still out there… may the gods watch over you and keep you safe.” I said aloud. Now… since I gave up the search for Kyren… I had to personally bring the news of the others to their families. Because loss was never enough of a punishment, was it? ---- “Hey, Tiara, can you create a flare and launch it up into the air for me?” I asked. “A flare?” “Yeah, bright light that goes up, stays up for a short while, then falls down?” “What good will that do you?” Tiara asked, curious. “People? Medical attention? Anything to help me out of this? I didn't get this far only to waste away at sea…” “If you say so.” She sighed. Tiara conjures up a small mechanical device and some ammo, placing it on my chest. “... thanks.” I groaned, trying to move my arms. I had actually laid still even after I woke up, afraid of screwing up something, or breaking the surface tension of the water and sinking in. Although… it is the ocean. My arms clumsily moved towards the flares, but stopped only a few inches above the water. Pain shot up my arms, even despite Tiara stopping the pain to begin with. “FU--!!” I cried out, squirming from the pain, sending even more pain through my body, and causing me to sink beneath the waves. Tiara grabbed me and pulled me out of the water, holding me by the shoulders. “AGHHH!!!” I screamed, feeling my body practically stretch itself out. I couldn't take it … and I passed out. ---- Kyren stopped moving as I picked him up out of the water. He had probably passed out again. I laid him back down on the water’s surface, quickly placing a spell on him to keep him from sinking again. Once he was secured, I grabbed the flares and the device from the water, all of which was floating a few feet from him. I loaded one of the flares into the device and aimed it at the moon. I fired it, pulling a small trigger at the bottom of the device. A plume of red-green light shot out of the device, illuminating everything around us as it arced through the sky. It stayed in the air for a few minutes, a lot longer than I expected. It began to fall, fading out as it fell towards the surface of the water. Almost immediately, the loud blare of a horn rang out in response. I returned the ‘greeting’ with another flare. The horn came again, closer this time. About 15 minutes later, the faint outline of a vessel appeared on the horizon, just as midnight came. ---- Flashbacks of the battle barraged me as my conscience tried to hide from the pain by immersing itself in my memories. I didn't know if Veryn or Zeltah were okay. I cared more about Veryn, mainly because he was my responsibility, and my little brother. I had told him that he should come with me to the meeting place, saying that it'd be a great time and would give him some practice. I had fallen off the back of a giant monster, so I can't really say that I witnessed anything after the *SPLAT*. Memories of the time that I was travelling with that group rushed over me not too quickly after the flashbacks began. Fighting relatively weak demons, raiding monster dens, seeing the areas of Grand and El Gaia… good memories. But those times were long gone. Things would never be the same, even as the group initially split up… we knew things were changing. I just had to face the fact that just about all my friends were dead. Category:Blog posts